Aurios Series 100 Component Shelf

Combating vibration is important for enhancing hi-fi performance

Our Verdict

This can add a touch of extra class, typically giving more insight into the sound

For

Adds a little extra refinement to good quality components

Against

A little expensive

Differences are not night and day

In the past we looked at some clever isolation feet from Aurios. Now's the turn of its equally innovative isolation platform.

It looks a lot like any lump of painted MDF, but there's rather more to it than that. It's actually two lumps of MDF, nicely profiled and joined together with special adhesive in an example of what's technically called 'constrained layer damping'.

The idea is to use a slightly springy glue, not necessarily uniform over the whole mating surface, which does a lot to break up resonances in the overall structure. This can be incredibly effective, especially with very resonant materials like sheet steel.

In actual fact, MDF isn't that inclined to ring in the first place, so the benefits of CLD are less dramatic. But it's clear from tapping this shelf that it's got very little intrinsic resonance.

Feet aren't provided: you could use Aurios's, or screw feet or spikes into the threads on the bottom face. These threads are imperial, but a metric M6 screw will go in with a little persuasion.

We tried both spikes and sorbothane feet under the shelf, finding the latter better for analogue sources, but the former generally more successful with digital sources and amps.

Most modern kit (turntables apart) isn't vastly microphonic, but even so there are subtle benefits to be had in combatting vibration and the shelf seems very successful in bringing a touch of extra finesse to the performance of good-quality components.

Most noticeably, it improves imaging, giving an extra yard or two of perceived depth and better precision in both dimensions. It's also worth noting that bass seems a touch better defined.